With COVID-19, questions about how infections cause lasting immunity, or don’t, and how you know and what it all means for vaccines have become a matter of public focus. But some immunologists have been pondering those questions for years. “The immune system has a very good memory,” Bali Pulendran told BioWorld. “Clearly, some viruses and some pathogens can enter the body and stimulate the immune system, and the immune system can remember that encounter for decades.” Read More
LONDON – The U.K. is funding a national program of research to investigate the major unanswered questions related to the immune response to COVID-19. The aim of the research, involving teams of immunologists in 17 research institutions, is to unpick the immunological backdrop of one of the most notable aspects of COVID-19 infection, which is the huge spectrum of severity of symptoms. Read More
Athira Pharma Inc.’s proposed $100 million IPO, along with a filing by Virios Therapeutics LLC to raise $35 million on Aug. 28, helped propel a supercharged amount of investment in 2020 that shows no sign of slowing. The pace is unusually swift this year despite hindrances from COVID-19. The total value of IPOs so far in 2020 is $12.95 billion, with 54 completed, easily outpacing 2019’s $8.64 billion. Read More
Updated results from a phase II test of Viking Therapeutics Inc.'s VK-2809 in people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and elevated LDL-cholesterol found it delivered durable reductions in liver fat even four weeks post-treatment. Read More
Detailed research over the past decade has shown that that the protein stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a master regulator of type I interferons and as such plays an essential role in activating innate immunity. STING’s importance in orchestrating the body’s response to pathogenic, tumor, or self-DNA in the cytoplasm has made it a hot target in immunology research and drug discovery and several biopharma companies have started programs dedicated to this area spanning infectious and inflammatory diseases as well as cancer. Read More
Millendo Therapeutics Inc. in April decided to scrap work altogether with livoletide in Prader-Willi syndrome after a phase IIb study fell short of statistical significance, but hope remains alive for – among others in the space – Soleno Therapeutics Inc., another recent newsmaker with once-daily diazoxide choline controlled-release tablets in PWS. Read More
Without a doubt, efforts to fight COVID-19 have dominated the flow of money into the biopharma industry through nonprofit collaborations and grants, accounting for 87% and 85% of the 2020 totals, respectively. Out of the 590 bio/nonprofit deals tracked by BioWorld this year, a total of $7.18 billion has been recorded, but 283 deals valued at $6.24 billion are directly focused on providing therapies for the pandemic. Read More
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: iBET you I can kill those metastases; Elite controller achieves none-in-a-billion status; AP-1 and antidepressant action; ‘Undruggable’ phosphatase can be targeted for dystrophies; Candida auris: mostly, nothing wrong; In T cells, exhaustion starts young; Chewing the fat keeps stem cells quiet; Antiviral protein produces flu mRNAs; Engineered brown fat cells improve blood sugar control; For organs, rejuvenation helps transplantation. Read More
Clinical updates, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Adaptimmune, Arrowhead, Assembly, Daiichi Sankyo, Enanta, Fortress, Idorsia, Janssen, Matinas, Treadwell, Viking. Read More
Biopharma happenings, including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Abbvie, Astrazeneca, Beximco, Biontech, Fixx, Fortress, Fosun, Ibio, Jacobson, Moderna, Planet, Principia, Sanofi, Serum Institute, Takeda, Tiziana. Read More
